Washing machine



May 5, 1925. 1,536,051

A. W. ALTORFER WASHING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 12, 1923 3d Z4! 35' 5 E lNY-ENTEIE...

May 5, 1925. 1,536,051 I A. W. ALTORFER WASHING MACHINE Filed Dec. 12, 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented May 5 1925.

UNITED STATES 1,536,051 PATENT OFFICE.

ALPHEUS W. ALTORFER, 0F PEORIA, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T0 ALTORFER BROS. COM- PANY, OF EAST PEORIA, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

WASHING MACHINE.

Application filed December 12, 1923. Serial No. 680,166.

T 0 all whom it may concern.

Be it known that ALIHEUS W. ALTORFER, a citizen of the United States, a resident of Peoria, in the county of Peoria and State of Illinois, has invented new and useful Improvements in Washing Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has reference to washing machines and particularly to that type of machine intended for domestic or household use, and it has for its principal object to improve that type of vacuum cup machines which provide some means for reciprocating the shaft on which. the cups are mounted, and which also provide a means for displacing the cups during such reciprocation of the shaft, whereby the cups may be: brought into contact with all portions of the clothes and other materials during the successivereciprocations of the shaft.

The invention has for its further object to improve that type of vacuum cup washing machine which provide an impositive driving connection between the operating mechanism and the reciprocal shaft, whereby the shaft may be intermittently rotated and with it the cups secured to the shaft; such driving connection being ineffective, if for any reason the rotary movement of the cups is opposed, such for instance if the clothes should become wrapped around the shaft, and such driving connection will remainineifective until the opposition ceases. Examples of this type of machine are illustrated in the Adams Patent No. 1,406,137 dated February 7, 1922 and the Graver Patents Nos. 1,456,052 and 1,456,053 dated May 22, 1923. Adams discloses a reciprocally arranged carrier to the upper end of which are connected arms from which'depend the cups. Adams shows an impositive movement for rotating the carrier and cups, in the form of clutch members, one of which he designated a piston and the other a sleeve.

" The piston connected with the lower end of the carrier and the sleeve encircling the carrier and having an annular slot engaging a fixed pin. A yielding means such as a spring bearing on the upper end of the sleeve to exert the necessary pressure to cause sleeve and piston to have the required impinging relation to rotate the carrier and cups when the piston and sleeve are raised and turned through the action of the pin in the slot of the sleeve. In the event clothes within the tub become wrapped around the carrier, or otherwise become entangled, such resistance will overcome the pressure of the spring, with the result that the clutch will slip and the carrier and cups will not be rotated. When such resistance is removed the clutch members will automatically act to impart a rotary movement to the carrier and cups. Graver discloses a further development, wherein a vertically disposed reciprocal shaft extends through the bottom of the tub and an impositive connection, in the form of clutch members is provided between the shaft and the driving mechanism. The cups being carried by arms connected to the upper end of the shaft are compelled, at all times, to rotate with the shaft when the clutch members act to impart rotary movement to the shaft. The clutch members in this arrangement are included in the sup: porting means for the shaft, and the arrangement of the clutch members is such that if the clothes should become wrapped around the shaft, or if for any other reason therotary movement of the cups is opposed to an unusual degree they will stop rotating until the opposition ceases.

A further object of the invention is to provide a means for reciprocating the-cup carrying shaft and to simultaneously impart an alternating rocking movement to said shaft as it is reciprocated. The cups being supported from the upper end of the shaft and arranged to have an impositive rotary movement imparted thereto, as the shaft is rocked, through and by means of a friction gripping relation set up between a sleeve loosely carried on the shaft, on which the frame supporting the cups is carried, and a collar secured to the shaft. The frame being preferably free to be rotated loosely around said sleeve and including means to removably latch the frame to said sleeve. The weight of the cups and supporting frame, under normal working conditions, will exert sufiicient pressure, as the shaft is raised, to cause the sleeve to frictionally ip the collar and to be moved forwardly with the collar and shaft as they are rocked, and the arrangement is such that if the clothes should become wrapped around the shaft, or if for any other reason the rotary movement of the cups is opposed to an unusual degree they will stop rotating until the opposition ceases and without efiecting or disturbing the rocking movement of the shaft.

That the invention may be more fully understood, reference is had to the acco1npanying'drawings forming a part of the present description, illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention, in which Figure 1 is an elevation partly broken away and partly in section showing a vacuum cup washing machine embodying my invention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged detail in plan of the cup supporting arms and the hub ring by means of which said arms may be fitted to the sleeve carried on the upper end of the reciprocating and rocking shaft;

Figure 3 is an enlarged detail in elevation, partly in section, showing the manner of attachin the cup supporting arms to be moved freel y around the shaft and to have an impositive clutch connection therewith to be rotated thereby as the same is rocked, and

Figure 4 is an elevation, partly in section, showing the relation of the clutch sleeve and collar on the shaft.

Like characters of reference denote corresponding parts throughout the figures.

In the drawings, the washing machine is shown including a tub or container 1 supported by legs or standards 2 each having a caster wheel 3. The tub or container being supported on a base ring 4 and provided with a removable lid or cover 5.

Passing up through the base ring and bottom wall of the tub is a reciprocal and rock-able shaft 6, a suitable sleeve structure 7 for the shaft upstanding within the tub and having suitable packings at both ends to prevent leakage around its lower end and through the bottom of the tub and at its upper end around the shaft into the upstanding sleeve. To said shaft, at or near its lower end is secured a collar 8. The pin 9 used for connecting said collar to the shaft extending out from one side thereof, a suitable distance. Below the collar 8 and preferably on the lower end of the shaft is held a sleeve 10 on which is fulcrumed a link 11 to which is pivotally connected, at 12, the forward end of a lever 13. Said lever extending to one side of the machine and pivoted thereto, at 14, and the forward end of the lever is formed or provided with a projection 15, to which is connected and upstands, at a slight inclination, a finger bar 16 having an opening 17 therethro-ugh, at its upper end through which projects the pin 9 above referred to.

The mechanism for oscillating the lever 13 is shown in a general way, in Figure 1 and comprises a prime mover 18, preferably inthe form of an electric motor, to the shaft of which is connected a pulley wheel 19 operating a belt 20 which in turn actuates a pulley wheel 21 on a shaft 22. This shaft is geared in a suitable manner, not shown, with a clutch controlled (not shown) counter shaft 23, to one end of which is connected a crank arm 24 which in turn is pivotally connected to a pitnlan bar 25, also connected to the lever 13 midway its ends, as shown. It will thus be observed that when the motor 18 is running, motion will be imparted to the counter shaft 23, through the pitman bar 24 to the lever 13, and byv means of said lever and the connections de-' scribed, with the shaft 6, reciprocate said shaft up and down and simultaneously with such reciprocation alternately rock the same in opposite directions.

On examination of Figure 1 it will be noted that suitable supports and casings are provided for the motor, shafts, operating means and other elements constituting the driving mechanism, for imparting a reciprocal and rocking movement to the shaft 6, but as to their specific character we are not here concerned, as they may be of any design or character suitable to accomplish the results herein aimed at. It may be found desirable to provide a belt tightener so I have shown an idler wheel 26 bearing against the belt 20 and carried by an arm 27 pivotally connected to the base ring 4.

Referring to the cup structure, support ing arms and means for connecting thev same to the shaft 6 to be reciprocated and rotated thereby and yet free to be turned thereon, 28 designates a collar pinned or otherwise suitably secured to the shaft, at or near its upper end. Loosely carried on said shaft, above said collar 28 and a head piece 29 also pinned or otherwise secured to the shaft, is a preferably grooved sleeve 30 provided with a depending annular flange 31 overlying and surrounding the collar 28, and between the collar 28 and said sleeve 30 is a friction washer or gasket 32, of suitable material, which, as will be explained provides impinging surfaces between the collar and sleeve tov impart an impositive driving connection between the shaft, collar and sleeve, to rotate the sleeve and cup supporting arms, as the shaft is rocked. On the sleeve 30 is carried the hub ring from which extend the spaced 1'adi ally arranged cup supporting arms 34, of which there are preferably three, although two could be used, if desired. Said hub ring 33,.has preferably a snug fit on the sleeve 30, resting on the base from which the flange 31 depends and is free to be swung thereon, at the will of the attendant using the machine, to displace the cups, when in serting or removing clothes, or for any other reason. The base flange of the sleeve pre sents an equal bearing around the underside of the hub ring 33 of the cup supporting arms and facilitates in equalizing the lifting of the cups and arms as the-shaft is raised and prevents canting of the arms. Bearing in mind that there is a vacuum formed within the cups as they reach the surface of the water and the pull is against the suction created thereby, an equalized lift is desirable to prevent any canting which may be caused by an uneven waterline due in part to agitation which might prevent all the cups leaving the water at the same time. Provision is made to removably attach the hub ring 33 and arms to the grooved sleeve 30, and comprises a tubular boss 35 extending radially from the hub ring 33 between two of the arms 34, and extending through the boss 35 is a plunger rod 36 on the inner end of which is carried a latching member 37 insertable into and rctractible from the groove in the-sleeve 30, and on the outer end of said rod is a knob 38 for operating the rod. A spring 39 disposed Within the boss and aroundthe rod 36 normally holds the latch member 37 in locking relation with the grooved sleeve, but permits the easy and quick removal of the latch and with it the arms 34 from the sleeve. From the outer end of each arm 34 depends or is suspended a vacuum cup 39, preferably connected with the arm 33 by a yielding means, such as a spring 40, or in any other convenient and desirable manner, whereby when the cups are lowered and engage with an obstruction, such as clothes or other materials which may be in a more compact mass atone point and not at another, the cups may have a full pounding action and equalize themselves to the different conditions within the tub and Without unequal pressure and without disturbing or displacing any of the cup reciprocating and rocking means.

In Figure 1 the cups are shown in their uppermost position and above the normal water line, with the operating parts also in a. corresponding position, and although not shown, when the shaft 6 is in its lowermost position, with the cups submerged in the water within the tub, the pin 9 should and would be preferably in approximately the same horizontal plane with the pivot 14 of the lever 13, with the result that the shaft (5 may be raised for a predetermined distance before there is any perceptible rock of the shaft, but as the are in which the outer end of the lever 13 and the pin 9 moves becomes more pronounced and the pin 9 approaches the intersection of a line paralleling the axis of the "shaft, said shaft has a very perciptible rocking movement. Such rocking of the shaft is so timed in its relation to the lifting of the shaft that the cups are approximately at the top of the water when such rocking movement is in full swing. In such position of the cups they are practically. free from any resistance which may be set up by the water or the sleeve 30 and arms 34 to have an impositiv'e v rotary movement in the direction of. the forward rocking movement of the shaft 6. In the event that clothes should become wrapped around the shaft, or if for any other reason the rotation of the cups is opposed, as the shaft 6 is rocked, the frictional grip set up between the elements 28, 30 and 31 will slip and permit the cups to stop rotating and to hang suspended in relation to the rocking of the shaft, until such opposition ceases. The manner of attachment of the arms 34 to the sleeve 30 is such that an attendant may hold .them against rotation or displace the same without effort and without disturbing operative parts, or being compelled to rotate any of the operating mechanism when the power is off and it is desired to displace the cups, without removing the same, to provide for the convenient and easy filling of the tub. On the down stroke of the shaft 6, the reverse rocking movement, in relation thereto, is preferably so timed that the shaft starts fast and slows down, as the in 9 approaches the horizontal level of the pivot 14 of the operating lever 13, and although the sleeve 30 is fitted loose on the shaft 6 between the collar 28 and the head piece 29 there may occur a slight frictional gripping relation between the sleeve and collar and cause a slight kick back of the cups, but of a very limited character, because the down movement of the shaft is but a short distance before the cups enter the water and begin their pounding action which will set up the necessary resistance to retard rotative movement and the cups will thus follow the shaft straight down into the water. In other words, the quick reverse of the shaft will cause it to move away from the cup supporting arms, while the cups will descend practically straight down into the water during their pounding action.

The essential differences between the within described structure and the art referred to is, that I reciprocate and rock the cup supporting shaft alternately in opposite directions, simultaneously; and further,

that I provide a substantially free rotative connection between the cup supporting arms and a sleeve comprising one member of a friction clutch adapted to have a frictional clutch engaging relation with a collar forming the other member of the clutch which is secured to the reciprocal and rocking shaft. In this way the rocking movement of the shaft is applied direct to the point of application where it will be most effective, and

' shaft disposed vertically through the hottom of the container, a friction clutch on the upper end of the shaft including a member carried loosely on the shaft, washing elements connected to be rotated freely around said member, and means for reciprocating said shaft and for simultaneously rocking said shaft alternately in opposite directions.

2. In a washing machine, a container, a shaft disposed vertically through the bottom of the container, a friction clutch on the upper end of the shaft including a member carried loosely on the shaft, washing elements connected to be rotated freely around said member, and means including a crank and lever connection for reciprocating said shaft and for simultaneously rocking said shaft alternately in opposite directions.

3. In a washing machine, a container, a shaft disposed vertically through the bottom of the container, a friction clutch on the upper end of the shaft including a member carried loosely on the shaft, washing elements connected to be rotated freely around said member, a motor, a crank operated by said motor, and connections be.-

tween said crank and shaft including a lever for reciprocating said shaft and for simultaneously rocking said shaft alternately in opposite directions.

4:. In a washing machine, a container, a shaft disposed vertically through the bottom of the container, a friction clutch on the upper end of the shaft including a member carried loosely on the shaft and a coacting member secured fast to said shaft, a supporting frame connected to be rotated freely around said loosely carried member, cups suspended from said frame, and means for reciprocating said shaft and for simultaneously rocking said shaft alternately in opposite directions.

5. In a washing machine, a container, a shaft disposed vertically through the bottom of the container, a friction clutch on the upper end of the shaft including a member carried loosely on the shaft and a coacting member secured fast to said shaft, a supporting frame connected to be rotated freely around said loosely carried member, cups suspended from said frame, and means including a crank and lever connection for reciprocating said shaft and for simultaneously rocking said shaft alternately in opposite directions.

6. In awashing machine, a container, a shaft disposed vertically through the bottom of the container, a friction clutch on the upper end of the shaft including a member carried loosely on the shaft and a coacting member secured fast to said shaft, a sup porting frame connected to be rotated freely around said loosely carried member, cups suspended from said frame, a motor, a crank operated by said motor, and connections between said crank and shaft including a lever for reciprocating said shaft and for simultaneously rocking said shaft alternately in opposite directions.

7. In a washing machine, a container, a shaft disposed vertically through the bottom of the container, a friction clutch on the upper end of the shaft including a member carried loosely on the shaft, washing elements including a frame connected to be rotated freely around said member, means for removably latching said frame to said member, and means for reciprocating said shaft and for simultaneously rocking said shaft alternately in opposite directions.

8. In a washing machine, a container, a

shaft disposed vertically through the bottom of the container, a friction clutch on the upper end of the shaft including a grooved sleeve carried loosely on the shaft, washing elements including a frame connected to be rotated freely around said sleeve, means complementary to the groove of the sleeve for removably latching said frame to said sleeve and means for reciprocating said shaft and for simultaneously rocking said shaft alternately in opposite directions.

9. In a washing machine, a container, a shaft disposed vertically through the bottom of the container, means connected with the lower end of said shaft for reciprocating the same, a friction clutch on the upper end of the shaft including a sleeve, carried loosely on the shaft and a coacting collar fast to said shaft, washing elements including a frame connected to be rotated freely on said sleeve, and means for removably latching said frame to said sleeve.

10. In a washing machine, a container, a

.shaft disposed vertically through the bottom of the container, means connected with the lower end of said shaft'for reciprocating the same, a friction clutch 0n the upper end of the shaft including a grooved sleeve carried loosely on the shaft and a coacting collar fast to said shaft, washing elements including a frame connected to be rotated freely on said sleeve, and yieldingly held latching means cooperating in the groove of the sleeve for removably latching the frame thereto.

11. In a washing machine, a container, a shaft disposed vertically through the bottom of the container, means connected with the lower end of the shaft for reciprocating the same, washing elements including a frame for mounting the same on the upper end of said shaft, and means on the shaft for impositively rotating said frame with the shaft including a collar fastto the shaft, a head piece spaced from said collar and secured to the end of the shaft, a sleeve loose on the shaft between the collar and head piece and means providing a frictional gripping relation between said collar and sleeve. v

12. In a washing machine, a container, a shaft disposed vertically through the bottom of the container, means connected with the lower end of the shaft for reciprocating the same, and for simultaneously imparting an alternating rocking movement thereto, washing elements including a frame for mounting the same on the upper end of said shaft, and means on the shaft for impositlvely rotating said frame with the shaft including a collar 20 fast to the shaft, a head piece spaced from said collar and secured to the end of the shaft, a sleeve loose on the shaft between the collar and head piece and means providing a frictional gripping relation between said collar and sleeve.

13. In a washing machine, a container, a shaft disposed vertically through the bottom of the container, a member fast to the upper end of the shaft, a second and superimposed member loose on said shaft and adapted to have africtional gripping relation with said first member to rotate therewith, a vacuum cup supporting frame supported by said second member, and means to reciprocate said shaft and simultaneously impart rocking movement thereto.

In Witness whereof, I have hereunto affixed I my hand and seal this 8th day of December, 1923.

ALPHEUS W. ALTORFER. 

